From The Grio — There are many definitions of a mistress. For the cast of a new wannabe reality TV show,TheReal Mistresses of Atlanta, it defines women willing to do just about anything for fame.

If Mistresses makes it to a television network, it will join a growing list of reality shows filmed in and around Atlanta: shows such as VH1’s Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlantaand WEtv’s Braxton Family Values.

What distinguishes these programs is the fact that they all feature an ensemble of feisty black women. With this come regular bouts of catfights, bickering, and nasty confrontations between grown women of color.

Amidst all the drama is a growing chorus of disapproval about how these productions portray black women, with online petitions even pushing for mass boycotts of some shows. Those spearheading the campaigns say cast members are mere pawns in the game of reality television and that the shows are demeaning and exploitative.

Now, attention has turned to how these reality shows depict Atlanta, a city famously known as the black Mecca. Not only is Atlanta home to affluent, middle-class blacks, but is the number one tourism destination for African-Americans, according to the 2004 Travel Industry Association report.

Critics of the “reality” genre fear that everything unique about “Hotlanta,” from its complex of historically black colleges to its uninterrupted succession of African-American mayors, is now being eclipsed by dysfunctional images churned out by black reality dramas.

“They represent Atlantans as more materialistic, narcissistic, and less thoughtful or socially conscious than we are,” said Dr. Robert Franklin, president of the world-famous Morehouse College.

“Most of the images are imbalanced, frivolous and misleading,” he said. “One wonders if the subjects of these programs know anything about the serious institutions like the Atlanta University Center and individuals like John Wesley Dobbs that changed Atlanta and America, and are truly worthy of public attention.”

“As an African-American woman I wouldn’t want anyone to judge the women of Atlanta by reality TV, which is just a snapshot,” said former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin. “We come in many different shapes and sizes, women like Coretta Scott King, Spelman woman, Agnes Scott women, elected officials, businesswomen as well as housewives.”